We Could Find New Ways to Fall Apart
by dwgleek98
Summary: Kurt has always had a problem with food. Luckily Blaine, Kurt's best friend and crush, is there to help him through it. The only problem in this situation is Blaine's jealous boyfriend Sebastian. Starts out Seblaine but changes to Klaine. Warning: may cause triggers but hopefully not!
1. Chapter 1

Kurt wasn't sure when it had started. Maybe with Coach Sylvester's "pear hips" comment but perhaps even earlier in his young life. He knew he'd always had a small problem with food. He wouldn't say he went insane and only eat one hundred calories and day or anything, he just liked eating healthy foods. The stuff other people would describe as "rabbit food." Healthy food was sometimes hard to find in Kurt's home however, as he lived alone with his dad who would much rather eat greasy burgers and fries than the lean meats and vegetables his son preferred.

Kurt knew that it was in high school when his problem first started taking hold. He'd never had any friends so he didn't sit by anyone at lunch, then the bullying escalated and he had stopped going to lunch and eating the midday meal all together. Whenever he went to the cafeteria, he'd only be greeted with slurs, slushy facials, getting tripped, and having someone else's lunch dumped over his head anyway. He saw little reason to have to sit through that torment and just stayed in the library during his lunch hour as often as he could.

Then, in his sophomore year, Kurt joined glee club. He could honestly say it was the best thing to happen to him. For the first time, he had real friends who he could sit next to at lunch and he'd started eating again. He didn't mind when he gained a little weight, in fact, he saw it as a good thing. He thought it made him look a little less like a skeleton. Kurt's dad had even commented that he was starting to look like a normal and healthy human being, rather than someone who should be incinerating in the sunlight or at the sight of a crucifix.

But then, the Cheerios came and Kurt's confidence shattered. Coach Sue's comment had snapped something in him and for two weeks, all he ate was celery for lunch, and that was just to keep the glee club off of his back. Eventually Quinn and Mercedes had kidnapped him and given him a complete lecture on healthy eating. He started eating lunch again but made up for it by running in the mornings and afternoons. It was actually Coach Sylvester herself that made him stop.

It had been after Cheerios practice when she approached him. Preparations for Nationals were in full swing, practices had been doubled to accommodate for Mercedes's recent quitting.

"Hey, Ladyface! See me after practice," she bellowed through her megaphone.

Kurt didn't know or care why Coach would want to see him, all he knew was that she was keeping him from his afternoon run. He'd overslept that morning and missed his run. He needed to hurry up and get home to make up for the time that he missed.

So he showered and changed quickly, running back to the gym in record time to see what his psychotic cheerleading coach could possibly want from him.

"Let's step into my office for a moment, shall we," Sue said, gesturing to the door of her lair.

Kurt walked into the suspiciously ill lit office and sat down in the familiar uncomfortable red chair in front of Coach Sue's desk.

"So Ladyface," Sue said, lowering herself into her chair, "do you know why you are here?"

Kurt shook his head. "No Coach."

"Well, you're here because I want to say two words to you that I have no memory of ever saying to another human being: I'm sorry."

Kurt was sure he had misheard. That was the only explanation. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"Oh don't make me say it again," she snapped, but then quickly composed herself. "I'm sorry that I may have had some part to play in the fact that you are starving yourself."

Kurt was shocked, appalled, flabbergasted. He didn't _starve himself._ He just liked eating healthy and exercising.

"I'm not-" he started, but never got a chance to finish his thought.

"Shut up. You think I don't notice you wasting away. Stretch Marks and Aretha can try as hard as they want, but they aren't getting anywhere. They shouldn't think that they have the power to single-handedly cure anorexia."

Kurt looked down at his shaking hands. He wasn't anorexic, he wasn't. He just had a slight problem with food.

"I'm not anorexic," Kurt whispered fiercely, more to himself than the coach.

Sue sighed and gave the nervous, shaking boy before her a pitying look. "And here we see the first stage: denial."

Kurt stood up abruptly. He couldn't listen to this anymore. He was not some anorexic who was locked up in some loony bin. He was normal, whatever that was anymore. He was almost out the door when Coach Sue called out to him.

"Kurt!"

He stopped and slowly looked back at her. He was shocked to find a look of genuine concern on the woman's face.

"Please take care of yourself. Don't let yourself slip any further into this mess. Maybe you're right. Maybe you aren't anorexic, yet. Just, don't let yourself get to that point. You are quite possibly the strongest boy I know Ladyface. Don't throw all that away because you don't think you look thin enough."

Kurt swallowed the painful lump in his throat and responded in a choked voice. "I'll try really hard Coach."

He walked out of the office and allowed himself to break down. Out of all the people to notice; out of all the people to _care, _it had been Sue Sylvester.

There was a change in Kurt after that day. He stopped insisting that he had homework and ate dinner with his father. It wasn't much, usually a tiny piece of chicken and a salad but that was so much more in his eyes. He ate a good portion at lunch too. Quinn and Mercedes had looked on bewildered as he ate more than he had in the past week at lunch in one. Again, it wasn't a feast and was certainly less than what everyone had eaten, but they knew that maybe, just maybe their friend would be okay.

Kurt thought that he would be okay too. That this was so far behind him, it was like Alexander McQueen's last season. Little did he know, this was the only the beginning.

**A/N: I know that this is so not how you approach someone with an eating disorder but she's Sue so... Reviews make me smile!**

**Peace, Love, Glee**

**Julez**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry I sort of abandoned this story, but I'm back!**

**Chapter 2**

Later that same year, the Finn basement incident took place. Kurt didn't like to dwell on that. Finn tried to apologize several times but Kurt wasn't hearing any of it.

"Kurt, can we just talk? Please?" Finn asked one day after glee club practice, a few days after the inncident and several weeks before regionals.

Kurt sighed and turned back to face his almost step-brother. "Yes, Finn?"

He kept his voice cool and even, without a trace of care. He'd mastered this indifferent, distant facade to use on jocks and homophobes, to keep them from thinking that their words hurt, that they might be getting to him. Kurt never thought he would have to classify the awkward, loveable Finn as one of those people though.

Finn walked up to Kurt, running a hand through his dark hair nervously. "Look, Kurt, I'm really sorry about what happened. You keep on saying that it's fine but I know that it isn't. I know that I don't deserve it, but please forgive me."

Kurt nodded stiffly. "Of course you're forgiven Finn."

He didn't mean it though, not really. Kurt tried to be the way he was before the incident, only without the apparent stalker tendencies that Finn told him he possessed during that time. Sometimes Finn would notice something different though, how Kurt would tense up if Finn accidentally bumped into him, how he would casually move when Finn tried to sit next to him during lunch or in glee club practice. Mostly during glee club practice though since most of the time when lunchtime rolled around, Kurt couldn't be found anywhere.

Finn knew that Kurt was trying to avoid him during lunch and he'd noticed that Mercedes and Quinn would always whisper things to each other in fast, worried tones whenever Kurt didn't show up. Finn didn't know why but he knew that it had something to do with his almost, kind of step-brother.

The quarterback had also observed that Coach Sue seemed to act really strange when Kurt didn't show up for lunch too. Finn thought that Coach Sue didn't have emotions. Then, one day after football practice, Finn saw Kurt in Coach Sue's office. She seemed to be yelling at him and even though Finn couldn't make out what she was saying, he was stunned to see that Kurt was just sitting there, his head hung in what could have been defeat or shame. And that's when things got really weird. The whole time, Sue had been standing behind her desk and leaning over it to yell at Kurt. All of a sudden, she stopped yelling and walked around her desk to sit next to Kurt. Finn could tell she was still talking to Kurt because he could see her lips moving. Sue had glanced up and almost saw Finn from his halfhearted attempt at a hiding place. Finn had quickly ran away and wondered what the hell he had just seen.

Finn didn't really seem to get it until one day after gym class. Finn knew that Kurt didn't change or shower around the other boys since they spent most of the time harassing him, instead he would stay late and change later seeing as he had a study hall after gym and just had to get a pass from Coach Tanaka to arrive late to the study hall.

So one day, Tanaka had made Finn and Puck had to stay after gym and wash the football jerseys after they had started a figth on the football field over some stupid mistake Puck had made but had quickly escaladed into a full on fist fight.

Finn knew it was because he was still angry after what had happened with Quinn and the baby. Even though they didn't talk about it, it was the obvious reason for their stupid fights that started for no reason. The ex-friends just didn't seem to be able to agree on anything.

However, they could agree on one thing, they hated having to clean the smelly football jerseys. They heard shower start and soon the pure, high sound of Kurt's voice filled the air.

"I forgot he stays later to shower," Finn whispered to Puck.

"Why are you whispering?" Puck asked, although he had also lowered his voice to a murmur.

Finn shrugged. He just didn't want Kurt to hear him and run away as his usually did.

He listened to Kurt's voice for a moment. Finn didn't recongize the song he was singing which wasn't all that strange since Kurt enjoyed singing show tunes and Finn didn't know that many songs from that particular genre. The song sounded sad though. Finn didn't always know how what Mr. Schue was talking about when he said to put your soul into the music you sing, but he knew he was getting it now, listening to his classmate's voice.

"He's really good," Finn muttered, more to himself than Puck.

"Duh," Puck responded, "He sounds like a freaking angel." Finn shot him a weird look. "No homo."

Puck sighed and chucked another clean jersey he had just folded into a pile. "Wonder what he's singing about. Sounds pretty heart breaking though."

"What if he had a secret boyfriend and never told us about him?" Finn suggested.

Puck let out a dry laugh. "In Lima? Yeah Kurt totally has a boyfriend, by the way, I'm also secretly a magical purple unicorn. Get your head out of your ass Finn."

Puck sighed and picked up a basket of dirty sport's apparel to take to washing machine.

"Besides," he said as he started walking, "I doubt he'd tell the two idiots who used to throw him into dumpsters anyway.

That was when it clicked. Finn finally understood. He walked quickly over to the showers, ignoring how creepy it was that he was trying to talk to Kurt while the other boy was showering.

"I finally get it!" Finn exclaimed excitedly, causing Kurt to jump about a mile in the air and spin around to face the intruder, nearly slipping on the wet tile. Kurt caught himself on the side of the stall and turned off the water quickly.

"Finn! What the hell?"

Kurt grabbed his towel swiftly and tied it tightly around his waist. He then just stood in the shower stall, glaring at the tall boy in front of him distrustfully.

Finn knew Kurt was angry and surprised but his mind was too busy thinking to really notice. After all, he tried to avoid thinking and difficult situations as much as possible. Maybe that's why he had always kind of followed along with whatever terrible thing the other jocks wanted to do to some poor, unsuspecting nerd.

"I finally get why you're still mad at me," Finn explained.

Kurt sighed and walked out of the shower stall, over to his gym locker. Finn trailed after him. He turned the dial to the correct combination and opened it, quickly pulling out his clothes.

"How many times do I have to say I'm not mad at you, Finn?" Kurt asked.

Finn shrugged. "Maybe until I actually believe you."

Kurt looked shocked and Finn wasn't surprised by his reaction. One did not simply give Kurt Hummel back talk and actually win the arguement but it seemed that Finn Hudson had.

Kurt recovered quickly from his shock and snapped back, "You better just believe me then because this is getting us no where Finn."

Finn hung his head and sighed then he looked at Kurt and gasped. He'd been avoiding looking anywhere other then Kurt's face as much as possible because looking at a dude while he'd half naked is kind of creepy. Besides, it had been exactly what he was afraid of Kurt doing for some reason.

Kurt looked like a skeleton. Finn could easily see all of his ribs.

"Kurt," Finn breathed.

Kurt seemed to realize where Finn was looking and sided, leaning over and banging his head on the locker next to him.

"Just what I needed," he muttered, "yet another person to try and shove food down my throat."

Finn eyes raked over Kurt's impossibly thin frame, making Kurt shift uncomfortably and turn away. Finn gasped again when he saw purple brusies scattered across Kurt's back.

"What the hell happened?" Finn demanded, the surprise he had felt quickly melting into rage.

"Locker checks," Kurt said emotionlessly, buttoning up the white shirt he had grabbed from his locker.

"But-but it looks so bad!"

"Finn, I bruise like a cantaloupe. Besides most of these are from painful run-ins with the actual locks. Those things hurt like a bitch."

Finn nodded, he was feeling a little numb from everything that he was trying to take in. So his almost, kind of step-brother has some kind of eating disorder and the bullying is worse than ever apparently.

"So, continuing our conversation from earlier, why do you think I'm still mad at you?"

Finn momentarily didn't realize what Kurt was saying, his brain was still trying to sort everything out.

"Well not really mad," Finn started, "more like distant. You just acted like I was about to throw you in a dumpster or something because I used to and you used think that I wasn't like the jocks but now you think I'm just like them because I hurt you just like they do."

Kurt stared up at the taller teen in a sort of awe. He never knew that Finn could be that...deep.

"I guess you're right," Kurt said, "but that doesn't change what you did."

"I know, I know. I was stupid. I was too worried about what other people might think to stop and realiz that you were one of my best friends. You helped me so much with Quinn and the baby drama and you completely redecorated your entire room becuase you thought I would like it better. Even though that was really off, you tried and that should have been enough for me."

Finn finished and watched Kurt for his reaction. The Cheerio seemed frozen, to astonished by what he'd just heard.

"I guess that's it, I should get back to class." Finn shuffled back awkwardly. He started walking out of the locker room but called back. "By the way, don't forget to add me to the list of people who's going to be shoving food down your throat. You need to eat more."

Kurt watched Finn's retreating back and smiled a geniune smile for the first time in what had felt like years.

**OK so I will probably introduce Blaine next chapter. He's kind going to come in the same time Kurt transfered to Dalton.**

**Peace, Love, Glee**

**Julez**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm sorry but the last few weeks have been crazy and I just haven't had any time at all to write. It'll be better over the summer, I promise.**

**Chapter 3**

As Kurt had suspected, Finn quickly forgot about Kurt's "food problem." For the first week or so, he had glared at Kurt across the table until his plate was empty. Then he'd give Kurt a wide grin and act like everything was okay. And despite Finn abandoning Kurt to instead brainstorm the best way to tell Rachel that he loved her, everything was okay, at least for a while.

Then there had been the week from hell the next year, Kurt's dad was in the hospital in a coma, with a huge possibility that he might never wake up. Kurt spent most of his lunch hours staring at his phone, hoping the hospital would call with good news, or avoiding Mercedes, Quinn and Finn who would all give him impromptu lessons on faith and religion whenever they saw him. Although to be fair, Mercedes and Quinn actually gave educated lessons, while Finn would spout on about grilled cheese sandwiches from heaven. Even when his dad finally woke up, he wasn't out of the woods yet, and Kurt spent far more time taking care of his father than himself. Not to mention, Coach Sue was no longer breathing down his neck since he hadn't rejoined the Cheerios.

Sam had also come to McKinley that year, a sweet boy with a genuine smile, a bad dye job, and absolutely no problem with Kurt being gay. However, Finn had apparently suffered a blow to the head and reverted back to his jerk jock days. He'd told Sam that singing a duet with Kurt would get him killed. If that hadn't thrown Kurt into an insane spiral of anger, depression and confusion, nothing would.

Although Burt hadn't really known what an impact it would have on his son if he told him not to sing with the other boy, Kurt was still angered that his own dad was siding with Finn again, especially after how hurt and jealous Kurt had been the year before.

So Kurt let Sam go, and sang a duet by himself. While it was an excellent performance, it was also one of the most embarrassing Kurt have ever experienced. It was hard to think about the fact that he'd had to sing a duet by himself as that was just a whole new level of loneliness and depression.

"Kurt! Pay attention please!"

Kurt was jerked out of his thoughts by Mr. Schue snapping at him. He looked down at his script for Rocky Horror and realized they had been waiting for him to say his line.

"Sorry Mr. Schue," Kurt said and then quickly recited his line.

The line was his last for the scene that the club was rehearsing so he allowed himself to drift off again. He'd been tireder than usual lately and all of his extensive research and Google searches had pointed to stress. He could have figured out that he was stressed on his own.

The bullying was worse than ever, Karofsky was relentless in his locker slams and harsh insults. Although Kurt would argue until the day that he died that those half-hearted remarks that barely took two brain cells to come up with didn't hurt him, they did. Not so much the gay jokes because he knew who he was a honestly wasn't going to care what people thought about that, but the jokes that hurt were the ones that said how he wasn't going to get out of Lima. They said he would be stuck in this hell repeating the same dull schedule day after day, only half alive like the other zombies he saw around town. Kurt didn't want to be like them. He didn't want to have to turn into someone who had to trick themselves everyday into thinking that they like their life.

The bell rang, signaling class was over, and Kurt jumped slightly in his seat. He quickly packed up his messenger bag and ran out the door to his next class.

"Kurt, wait up!" Finn called down the hallway after Kurt.

Kurt turned around and waited for the tall teen to catch up.

"Yes, Finn?"

Finn looked around the hallway for a moment as if to make sure that no one was listening and Kurt felt his patience wear thin.

"Let's go in here," Finn said, half pushing Kurt into an empty classroom.

"What the hell is this about Finn?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms over his chest and doing his best to look somewhat interested in what stupidity was about to spew from Finn's mouth.

"Um, well," Finn stammered, still looking around nervously despite being away from prying eyes, "I think I'm fat."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at his almost brother. "Please tell me this isn't because of Santana's stupid comments about you looking terrible in your Rocky Horror costume. We both know she's just a bitch."

Finn looked a little ashamed of himself. "I know, I just wonder how you, I don't know, deal with it."

Kurt didn't really know where Finn was going with this, and he had a feeling he didn't want to.

"Deal with what, Finn?" Kurt asking, narrowing his eyes dangerously at the other boy.

"Well," Finn shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably, "don't people like you get anorexia because they feel fat."

Kurt flinched a little at the word anorexia.

"No, Finn, some people actually don't have...eating disorders because they feel fat. I know I don't really feel fat. I don't eat because it gives me a sense of control over something when everything else seems to be falling apart."

Finn stared wide eyed at Kurt. It was Kurt's turn to feel uncomfortable.

"That's really screwed up man."

"You think I don't know that," Kurt countered, "I know it's not normal, but it's just the way it is. I'm really trying to get better but it doesn't help when it feels like everytime I eat, I'm just doing what everyone else wants me to do, like I'm giving in to peer pressure or something. It doesn't help that the way I deal with stress is not eating and I have been feeling very stressed due to the bullying."

Kurt finished and found that he had turned his back on Finn and had his arms wrapped tightly around his torso like he was trying to hug himself. Kurt felt a hand on his shoulder which he assumed was supposed to be comforting. He turned around to see Finn who gave him a small, sympathetic smile.

"I'm really sorry, dude. I can try to help if you want."

Kurt smiled back at the taller teen. "That's nice Finn, but there's no point in you getting hurt too."

"Well, then you have to stand up for yourself!" Finn said passionately. "I know high school ends and everything, but you still want to make the most of the time that you have here. I'm willing to help you out with anything, but you have to promise to stop letting everyone walk all over you."

Kurt wiped a stray tear out of his eye. "Thanks Finn."

Kurt straightened the strap on his messanger bag and cleared his throat.

"However, just because that is the way that I deal with my issues doesn't mean you have to feel that way."

Finn looked up hopefully.

"If you know that you really are overweight and you want to be healthy, I know some good recipes that I actually think you would like. For the record, I don't think you're fat and I doubt anyone else really does. You just need to find your way to be comfortable in your own skin. I hope that helps."

The bell rang loudly, annoucing the start of the next class.

"Sorry I made you late for class, dude," Finn said.

Kurt shrugged. "I have French now anyway and that teacher loves me."

He started towards the door but turned back at the last second. "By the way, if Santana says another stupid thing about your weight, tell her to shove her opinion up her stupid, fake, malnourished ass."

**A/N: I also promise that Blaine will be here soon.**

**Peace, Love, Glee**

**Julez**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This is where things start getting really AU and Kurt is kind of OCC.**

**Chapter 4**

"I'm proud to announce the second girls versus boys mash up competition!"

The loud, excited squealing of the girls along with the yells and grunts of agreement from the boys startled Kurt out of his daze. Mr. Schue stood in front of the glee club, looking proud of himself for being able to do the exact same assignment two years in a row.

"Okay, now get into groups and start discussing mash ups!"

Mr. Schue turned away and started erasing something written on the board. Kurt edged cautiously over to the cluster of girls.

"Kurt, go back to the boys," Mr. Schue said, not even turning around.

Kurt rolled his eyes and walked back over to the boys where Puck telling the boys about all the girls he'd managed to trick into bed with him. The young fashionista soon began thinking up tortures he would rather be undergoing then listen to Puckzilla talk about how big the girl's boobs were.

The bell rang and Kurt grabbed his messenger bag and ran as fast as he could out the door. He was desperate to avoid Karofsky who seemed to have taken to roaming the halls for as long as he could in between classes to better his chances of being able to inflict Kurt with some form of pain as many times as possible.

Kurt was sure that he was about to give up all together. Karofsky's attacks were getting worse if that was even possible, and Kurt wasn't sure why he kept letting himself trust Finn because the quarterback was far too worried about his position of the football team than helping someone out.

"Kurt, are you okay?"

Kurt jumped and turned around to see Mercedes. She looked a little scared like she was trying to approach a wild animal or a mentally unstable person.

"Mercedes, you scared me!" he said.

"I can see that," Mercedes commented, still looking a little uneasy. "But again, are you okay?

"I'm fine, thanks."

Mercedes gave a look that made it clear she didn't believe him for one second. She took off her backpack quickly and rummaged through it for a moment before extracting a small object which she hadn't to Kurt.

"It's a protein bar. I figured you probably hadn't eaten yet today."

Mercedes walked on to her next class but Kurt stood and stared at the package. Part of him was screaming to just eat it but the greater part was telling him that was just what other people wanted.

Kurt had just decided he would throw the bar away when he got home when Karofsky snuck up and hit his phone out of his hands, shoved him into a locker and continued walking to the boys' locker room.

Kurt sat momentarily stunned. Then Finn's words floated into his mind. _You need to stand up for yourself._ There was no way Kurt was going to take this anymore.

Kurt ran down the hallway towards the locker room as fast as his legs would carry him. He ran into several people and he thought he heard a teacher threaten to give him detention, but he didn't care. He'd never felt so alive.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Kurt screamed, barging into the locker room.

Kurt felt the adrenalin running through his veins. He was going to make the pain stop. He was going to finally stand up for himself. The bullying would be-

Karofsky had kissed him. He had been in the middle of that oaf the verbal bitch slap of the century when Karofsky had grabbed Kurt's face and smashed his disgusting chapped lips on Kurt's. Kurt had pushed him off when Karofsky had come back for seconds. Karofsky had slammed his fist against a locker angrily and left. Kurt had been terrified for a second because he was sure his face would be the locker next. After he heard the locker room door slam, Kurt found himself sinking to the floor, hugging his knees to his chest and trying hard not to cry.

That was how Puck found Kurt a little over three hours later on his way to football practice. The jock had panicked immediately because Kurt just looked…dead. He was sitting in a little ball, staring straight at the dirty tiles of the locker room floor. It was terrifying. Puck though it should be obvious to with eyes that Kurt had been doing very well lately. Maybe people had noticed but not done anything.

"Dude…Kurt!" Puck said, shaking the tiny boy slightly.

"Wha-what?" Kurt looked around wildly before looking up at Puck. "What are you doing here Puck?"

"I'm here for football practice," Puck said.

Kurt's eyebrow furrowed together in confusion, football practice was over a half hour after school ended.

"But it's only one thirty."

If Puck had been scared before, he was petrified now. "Kurt, it's almost four o' clock."

Kurt seemed to register what Puck had said and got up quickly and ran out the door and to his car. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed. Maybe he had fallen asleep. He didn't eat dinner as usual, instead he went up to his room and fell asleep almost the moment he got home.

The next day at school he was approached by Puck. "Hey dude, are you okay? I've been worried since I saw you yesterday."

"I'm fine. I just fell asleep. You woke me up when you found me, that's all."

Puck wasn't sure what to say to the boy in front of him because that's definitely not how he saw things.

"Kurt," Puck started slowly, "you weren't asleep. You just weren't really responding to anything. You were just sitting there, staring at the floor. Did something happen?"

That was when Kurt ran. He didn't want to deal with this. He _couldn't _deal with this. What had happened with Karofsky would never be told to anyone. It wasn't just that he wanted to forget though, Karofsky was obviously dealing with a lot himself and Kurt wouldn't out him. He wasn't that kind of guy.

So Kurt avoided Karofsky more than ever and it pretty well because Karofsky seemed to be steering clear of Kurt as well. It lasted for a few days until Karofsky approached Kurt at his locker.

Kurt immediately froze in fear, although he tried not to let Karofsky see. He acted like Karofsky wasn't there. Perhaps stare downs were part of the idiot's new torture techniques. Kurt had to admit it was working. He expected Karofsky to lash out at any second like an animal.

"Have you told anyone?" Karofsky asked, his voice dangerously low.

Kurt jumped a little and, without looking at Karofsky, replied, "No. I wouldn't do that."

"Good," Karofsky said, leaning a little closer so he was practically whispering in Kurt's ear. "because if you tell anyone, I will kill you."

And with that, he was gone, disappearing among the throngs of students milling around the hallways. Kurt stood rigid for a few seconds and then he was running as fast as he could towards the front doors of McKinley High School. He ran right into a student but didn't stop. He ran to the deserted football and hid under the bleachers.

Kurt sobbed into his hands. He couldn't do this anymore. He wished he could just be normal like Finn or Puck. Then again, he hadn't met anyone else like Puck in his life. Oh, he could be like Mike. Mike was nice and normal. He was a great dancer but all he had to worry about was his slightly weird relationship with Tina and whether or not he would do well at the next football game.

Kurt heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see a worried looking boy. He was short with hair that was plastered to his head and was wearing a bowtie and pants that were too short. Kurt had never seen this boy before.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked, extending a hand to help Kurt to his feet. "I'm Blaine by the way, Blaine Anderson."

**Peace, Love, Glee**

**Julez**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Don't hate me.**

**Chapter 5**

Kurt stared up at Blaine. The stranger still had his hand outstretched in an offer to help Kurt up, but the boy was too physically and emotionally exhausted to take it.

"I'm not going to bite you know," Blaine said jokingly, but his voice was gentle.

Kurt shook his head and laid his forehead on his knees that were drawn up to his chest. He wasn't going to cry again. Kurt just wanted to sleep and forget about this day and Karofsky's threats.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Blaine asked, resting his hand comfortingly on Kurt's shoulder.

However, this did not the consoling effect Blaine was going for because Kurt let out a strangled cry like a very frightened animal and jumped away from a very shocked and confused Blaine.

"Don't touch me!" Kurt yelled. Blaine saw some jocks on the football field send strange looks towards the bleachers.

"Unless you want to catch the gay," Kurt continued in a small voice, drawing his knees up to his chest again.

Of course, Kurt didn't believe the stupid insult the jocks would throw at him about his "condition" being contagious but he needed this pesky Blaine to leave him alone. Then again, if Kurt's biggest tormentor and the most open homophobe in school kissed him, maybe being gay really was infectious.

Blaine stared at the helpless boy in front of him. He knew any other person would get up and walk away but Blaine Anderson prided the fact that he was not as cold-hearted as his fellow people. All the signs, as well Blaine's personal experience, pointed to this boy being bullied.

"Can't catch what you already have," Blaine stated simply, going against his instincts which had told him not to come out at a public school, unless he wanted a repeat of his experience at the last public school he had attended.

Kurt stared up at Blaine. No way. Kurt had to be dreaming or something because there was no way that a gay guy would just happen to show up when Kurt needed someone like him most.

"Are you just making fun of me?" Kurt asked.

Blaine shot him a confused look and sat down next to Kurt, although he made sure to stay a good distance away. "No, why would I do that?" Blaine asked.

"Because I've never met anyone else my age that's gay," Kurt said.

"I hadn't either before I went to Dalton," Blaine replied.

Kurt recognized the name of the school from something Mr. Schue had briefly said about the sectionals competition.

"McKinley is completing against Dalton for glee club sectionals," Kurt muttered absented mindedly.

"Are you in show choir?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded. "That's awesome! I was in the show choir at Dalton."

Kurt looked up at the kind boy, wondering if the New Directions was about to encounter another Jesse St. James situation. That would really suck.

"Are you here to spy on us?" Kurt asked, fiddling aimlessly with the zipper on his Alexander McQueen leather jacket.

Blaine frowned at what the pale boy had just said. Every word out of this boy's mouth only made Blaine more confused and more convinced he should just walk away and try and find someone who didn't act like they belonged in a mental institution.

"No, I'm not here to collect secrets about the New Directions for the Warblers if that's what you're asking," Blaine said slowly.

Kurt nodded and Blaine found himself sighing in frustration. He then suddenly realized that he didn't even know this kid's name or had been able to get a clear answer about what was wrong with him. From the way he was acting, I would guess that he was in some sort of shock, but where did the shock come from? What happened to him?

"Okay, since I've gotten nothing from this conversation and would much rather pretend that it never happened, we are going to start over," Blaine said and stuck out his right hand for the other boy, who was looking rather alarmed, to shake. "My name is Blaine Anderson. What's yours?"

"Kurt Hummel," the stranger said, as he slowly reached out and took Blaine hand.

"Alright, progress. What are you doing under the bleachers crying Kurt Hummel?" Blaine asked.

"I was-" Kurt cut off, not knowing what to tell the bowtie-clad boy in front of him. "I was running from a stupid Neanderthal in my class." Kurt had decided to settle for partial honesty.

Blaine sighed. Just as he'd thought, bullying. "How long has he been bullying you for?" Blaine asked kindly.

Kurt shrugged. He had really thought about it. Karofsky had picked on him in middle school and he had assisted with the dumpster dives for as long as they had been around.

"A long time," Kurt replied, "but it's gotten worse lately."

Blaine watched as Kurt became a different person. He didn't know why he was acting so strange earlier but now he seemed more confident, or at least he was answering Blaine's questions without confusing him more.

"Do you know what triggered it to make it worse?" Blaine asked.

Kurt stared at Blaine. He had a feeling this boy could keep a secret. He didn't want to out Karofsky to _anyone _but maybe this Blaine guy could help.

"I think he bullied me because I'm not exactly quiet about my sexuality and…" Kurt trailed off.

He _really _didn't want have to tell anyone about Karofsky kissing him. It wasn't just the fact that Karofsky was either gay or trying to figure out his feelings so Kurt didn't want to out him, it was that it was humiliating that Karofsky kissed him. It made Kurt feel weak that he wasn't able to stop the admittedly much larger boy. Logically, Kurt knew that there was no way he could've stopped what had happened but it didn't stop him from feeling small and feeble. With the death threat on top of all that, Kurt felt himself slipping even further back into the Kurt that didn't eat properly for weeks and allowed himself to be pushed around, not to mention separate himself as far as he could from anyone who could possibly care about him.

Kurt looked up and saw Blaine looking at him expectantly. "You can trust me," Blaine said gently, sensing Kurt's reservations.

Kurt took a deep breath. "It's just that, I found out that he could possibly be gay, or at least confused about his feelings and when he knew that I knew, he threatened to kill me."

Blaine gasped and rested a hand on Kurt's shoulder, he was happy when the taller boy didn't flinch away like he had last time. He heard Kurt sniffle a little and saw tears shining in the bright blue eyes.

"I'm really sorry Kurt. I was bullied too before Dalton but I never had anyone threaten to kill me."

Kurt shrugged. "He only threatened to kill me if I told anyone. And you said you would keep it a secret so I have nothing to worry about."

Kurt stood up and brushed the dirt of his pants.

"Kurt you can't just walk away from this," Blaine protested, wanting Kurt to come back and talk to him more.

"It's a free country," Kurt said, walking out from under the bleachers and towards his car in the parking lot.

Blaine scrambled to his feet, and ran after Kurt who was walking impossibly fast. "Kurt please come back, this isn't nothing, you have to deal with this."

"Why are you even here?" Kurt asked, not slowing his pace.

Blaine was panting slightly from trying to keep up with the taller boy. "Well, I was walking around the football field when I heard someone crying so I-"

Kurt stopped suddenly and turned around to face Blaine. "No, I mean what are you doing here at McKinley. You said you went to Dalton."

Kurt wasn't that much taller than Blaine, but he had this way of staring down at Blaine in a way that made him feel about two inches tall. Blaine didn't really understand why Kurt was giving him that distrustful glare but it angered him. What had Blaine even done to Kurt?

"I don't go to Dalton anymore," Blaine snapped, he didn't mean to sound so harsh but his schooling was a sensitive subject for him. "I used to go to Dalton because I was bullied at my old school. Then, out of the blue, my dad said I should try and man up by going back to a public school. However, I know for a fact that I only have to go back because he's out of money from gambling it all away. So I was here for a tour around the school before I officially start here and I was checking out the football field when I heard someone crying so I walked over and found you. There, sue me!"

Blaine finished and stormed off, leaving a shocked Kurt Hummel behind him. Blaine knew he really shouldn't have gone off on Kurt like that but he'd been bottling up his anger since finding out he was returning to the hell more commonly known as the public school system and now there was this poor kid who he was trying to _help _but who just turned on him like he was the bad guy. This was already too screwed up of a school for Blaine to handle.

"Blaine! Wait up!"

Blaine turned around and waited for Kurt to catch up. "I'm sorry," he said, "It's just that last year a guy from Vocal Adrenaline tried to destroy the glee club by spying on us and breaking the heart of our lead singer. The whole club has been kind of wary of people coming from different show choirs since, especially if they arrive so close to competition time."

Blaine nodded, only somewhat understanding.

"Do you want to be in show choir at McKinley?" Kurt asked.

Blaine had been thinking about it and he had decided earlier that it would be the best way to make some new friends.

"Are they all as crazy as you?" Blaine asked, half-teasing, half-serious.

Kurt grinned wickedly. "Oh Blaine, the rest of them are far worse."

For some reason, the information didn't scare Blaine at all. Instead he made a sort of bowing gesture for Kurt to walk in front of him and said, "Lead the way Kurt Hummel."

**Peace, Love, Glee**

**Julez**


End file.
